To-do list programs can help you stay organized and boost productivity. Ars …

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I've found that maintaining a proper to-do list consistently boosts my productivity. The challenge, however, is finding task management software that fits with my workflow. I've tried several web solutions—including Remember the Milk (RTM) and a self-hosted Tracks setup—but the problem with browser-based to-do lists is that I tend to ignore what's not immediately visible on my desktop. Fortunately, there are several reasonably good open source to-do list tools for Linux.

I recently started using Getting Things GNOME (GTG), an organizer for the GNOME desktop environment that provides a robust feature set and a relatively high level of usability. Although it's still at an early stage of development and has some rough edges, it meets my needs better than any of the other to-do list programs that I've tested. It has supported for nested substasks, tagging, and task notes.

The GTG user interface provides several convenience features that I find particularly advantageous. It has a quick-add entry box which allows users to create new tasks on the fly without having to input any extraneous data. Users can optionally specify tags for the task directly in the quick-add box alongside the task title. Another nice user interface feature that I like is the Work View, which will give you a flattened and filtered view of your task list with immediate action items.

GTG is written in the Python programming language, which makes it easy to modify and extend. I've added several additional features to it myself, including a D-Bus interprocess communication interface which the GTG developers recently merged. Using D-Bus, I've been able to tightly integrate GTG into my article management workflow. For example, I wrote a script that allows me to add new tasks directly from Vim, my favorite text editor.

GTG has a modular backend system that will eventually make it possible for the program to store its data in web-based services such as RTM. At the present time, however, the only backend that is officially supported by the program's developers is one that stores tasks in flat XML files on the filesystem. Using GTG's APIs, I implemented my own experimental backend that stores the tasks in a CouchDB database. I'm hoping to use CouchDB's replication features to keep my tasks synchronized between computers.

The only major downside of GTG is that I haven't quite found a way to integrate it with the Evolution messaging client, which I use for e-mail. Evolution has its own built-in to-do list system that is cumbersome and less feature-packed than GTG's, but has one really nice feature--it lets users seamlessly convert an e-mail into a task item. I'd like to be able to do that, but push the generated task into GTG instead of Evolution's built-in to-do system.

With that goal, I started coding an Evolution plugin in C# that will take advantage of my GTG D-Bus interface. I ran into a snag, however, as I have not been able to get the NDesk D-Bus library to work properly in an Evolution plugin (but it works fine in a standalone program). I've posted some preliminary test code. If anybody knows what I'm doing wrong, I'd appreciate some tips.

Other task management tools

GTG mostly works great for me, but it might not meet everyone's needs. There are plenty of other options for users who have different requirements. Another good choice for GNOME users is Tasque, a lightweight to-do list program that integrates well with RTM and has a highly streamlined user interface. Originally created during a Novell Hack Week, Tasque has become quite popular and it shipped by default as part of the GNOME environment in OpenSUSE 11.1.

For KDE users, the top-notch task management tool is KOrganizer. It can be used standalone or as part of Kontact, the KDE messaging suite. KOrganizer has a very rich feature set, including support for subtasks, calendaring integration, task progress, and alarms notifications. It stores its data in Akonadi, KDE's unified PIM storage service. There is a simple to-do list widget that integrates with KOrganizer and will make it easy for users to see their pending tasks directly on their desktop.

I use RTM but I'm not satisfied with it, I miss: - a step-by-step plan but RTM doesn't have nested / subtasks- a start date (not just a due date)- on option to mark todo's to be done now, or today (star them)

I use my iphone extensivly and I'm glad RTM uses push notifications now on iphone os 3.0 but it would be great if (Apple let them / they would) sync in the background. It syncs quickly though but after using BeOS for a long time ....

I like the 'make-tasks-from-notes' in Mac OS X's Mail.app; you select a line and choose to make a task from that line which you can check as done, if Notes.app on the iphone would have that... then I'd need alerts and that's it... maybe nah I'd miss tagging :-)

I'm always moving between Windows PCs at work, and I have no admin rights. As a result I really have to use an online/cloud GTD solution; I need to be able to get to it from a browser.

I've tried a few online GTDs, but I'm happiest with Vitalist... except it costs me $5 per month. I like the way it focuses on start and target dates, and has sub-tasks. I don't really care about contexts as most of my work involves access to the company network and a PC and the phone. Also, if I receive an email with a new task in it, I can just forward it to my account and mark it up with dates and categories when it arrives. That way, all the information and files are easy to get to without trawling through my out-of-control inbox...

I do use Vitalist for personal tasks too, but mostly as reminders to get me to do stuff in my lunch hour. I do occasionally access Vitalist via my phone, but the interface is a little clunky, but good enough for adding stuff (the iPhone version is supposed to be much better).

If there was a similar open source solution, I'd probably run that instead, but something that's bound to one PC is not going to work for me.

Originally posted by sulfide:@kobolds I 100% agree, I have never used these types of things because I remember.

Wish they worked on better apps than yet another to do list.

I can see you're point, but maybe you just don't have enough things to do?

Personally, I put everything on google calendar. I have it set to constantly nag me with SMS's for things I really don't want to do, and to remind me once for things I want to do. Mostly though, it's so I don't fool myself into thinking I'll have time to do A B and C when W X Y and Z are already on my plate.

I've been using Tomboy as a todo list program for a while and it works pretty well. I usually create a new page every day and a list for each category of items I have to do, then strike them out as I complete them. Works pretty well and is flexible.

This GTG program looks pretty nice, though. I'm trying it out now on Ubuntu 8.04 and it works pretty well and is flexible (a major plus), though I did walk into a pretty major bug almost right away (and reported it).

There's the "What I need to get done today" type, a short-lived todo list that I create when I have a list of things to do but am in danger of watching TV all day otherwise. Often used before going on a trip or holiday.

And there are the long term project To Dos, which need subtasks, notes and priorities, even due dates and "do after X" or "do before Y" where X,Y are other tasks in the system. The ability to access the todos and modify/add subtasks quickly, so that ideas can be captured without hassle.

Also ability to attach images - mostly scans of notes and plans that I do on paper, because I do these best there because it's just more natural. Wouldn't mind if the ToDo application could capture notes from a Wacom tablet though.

The interesting thing about Korganizer is that you can use it command line mode, extract the calendar, then filter and reformat it, and pipe it to a word processor. It seems to be (if done like this) the only one of these things where you get to give a client a todo and calendar formatted exactly the way he/she likes it, and also give them final editing control. Very useful if you have a group that likes to meet and go over its agenda together and has decided ideas about what it should look like.

This is using konsolekalendar.

Its one of these things where the secretary asks you, is it possible, without really expecting it to be, and a half hour later she has exactly what she wanted.

Originally posted by zefrer:Yeah uh.. Emacs? Planner mode does markup, is extensible like everything in Emacs, can be used right within the editor, can do regex searching on your notes or todo list, etc etc.

I use KeepNote and store the notebook on Dropbox. Cross platform and readily available no matter what computer I'm on. I regularly have it open on 3 different machines and it auto updates on all machines every time I add to it.

Originally posted by Andrew Macdonald:Thanks for the review - Linux to-do list software comparative reviews aren't that easy to find.

You're joking right? This was not a comparative review. It was a micro review of GTG, with a brief mention of "Other task management tools". No real comparison was made. It was rather disappointing actually, not up to Ryans usual standards.